Divergence in business, consumer loan trends: is it worrying?

Singapore

THE gap between business and consumer loans growth may be widening, but economists are split on just how worrying the trend actually is.

To DBS economist Irvin Seah, the growing divergence should be a wake-up call for consumers; he believes households should stop being "complacent" and avoid leveraging up any further.

He told The Business Times: "I think there is a large degree of complacency among consumers, who think that they have job security and that the growth outlook is still fairly resilient. This is not the case; the slowdown in the econo…